Authorities say man shoots himself to death near White House

The Secret Service said a man shot himself to death Saturday as he stood near the fence along the north side of the White House.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were in Florida at the time. The White House says Trump has been briefed on the shooting.

Authorities are seeking to notify the man’s relatives and haven’t released his name.

Speaking for the Secret Service, Mason F. Brayman said the man approached the fence shortly before noon and fired several rounds from a handgun. Brayman says none of the shots appears to have been directed toward the White House.

First-responder accused of spitting on child and using slur

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.

Police said charges are pending against a person identified as a first-responder who allegedly spit on and called a child by a racial slur in a suburban Kansas City restaurant.

The incident happened Monday night at a Hooters restaurant in Overland Park, Kan.

Police Sgt. John Lacy told The Kansas City Star that the suspect is a first-responder, but didn’t say for which agency. Lacy said the person doesn’t work in Kansas.

Police told KCTV that possible charges could include battery and making a criminal threat. Police haven’t released the person’s name.

Witnesses and family members of the child told police the suspect called the child, who is black, a slur while saying someone should get the child “up off the floor.”

Police said the boy’s family was at the restaurant celebrating a birthday.

Judge issues gag order in ex-professor’s Chicago murder case

CHICAGO

Court records show that a judge has issued a gag order on attorneys in the case of a former Northwestern University professor and British man charged in a fatal stabbing in Chicago last summer.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Cook County Judge Charles Burns signed the order Feb. 14. There’s been no discussion of the order during recent court hearings, and the judge has given no public reason for why it’s needed. The order prohibits lawyers and law enforcement from publicly expressing opinions about the case or discussing evidence and testimony.

Former Northwestern professor Wyndham Lathem and Oxford University employee Andrew Warren have pleaded not guilty in the July stabbing death of 26-year-old Trenton Cornell-Duranleau. The men are accused of attacking Cornell-Duranleau while he slept in Lathem’s Chicago apartment, stabbing him dozens of times.

Pope declares new feast day devoted to the Virgin Mary

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has made the devotion to the Virgin Mary a new fixed celebration in the Roman Catholic calendar.

The Vatican published a decree Saturday in which Francis declared that the Mary “Mother of the Church” feast would be celebrated on the Monday following Pentecost. This year, it falls on May 21.

The decree said Francis wanted the devotion to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

History’s first Latin American pope is particularly devoted to Marian piety and frequently refers to the church as “mother.”

In 2016, Francis set another feast day for another key woman in Christ’s life, declaring July 22 as the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.

Teen gets prison for terror plots, including Bieber concert

LONDON

A 17-year-old Welsh teen has been sentenced to at least 11 years in prison after being convicted of plotting an Islamic State-inspired attack on various targets including a Justin Bieber concert.

Judge Mark Wall on Friday sentenced Lloyd Gunton to an indeterminate sentence after concluding he had a total “disregard for human life.”

Evidence during his trial showed that Gunton had researched several targets in Cardiff, the Welsh capital, including a shopping center and Bieber’s performance on June 30, 2017. The teen lives in Llantrisant in south Wales.

Gunton, who suffers from an autism spectrum disorder, was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court last November.

Schwarzenegger toasts Ohio’s efforts to stop gerrymandering

COLUMBUS

Movie star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made good on a promise to raise a toast with Ohio politicians after the Legislature forged a bi-partisan deal that could lead to reforms on how congressional districts are drawn in the state.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Schwarzenegger joined Ohio Gov. John Kasich and state legislative leaders Friday for a toast with Austrian schnapps in Columbus. The “Terminator” star was in town for his annual Arnold Sports Festival.

Schwarzenegger made a video last month praising Ohio’s political leaders for “terminating gerrymandering.” Ohio voters will decide May 8 on a plan that requires maps be drawn with significant bipartisan support.

The 2011 map led to Republicans holding 12 of 16 congressional districts despite receiving less than 55 percent of the vote.

Florida lawmakers take up school-safety bill in rare session

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

The Florida Senate spent hours debating a bill to increase school safety and restrict gun purchases in a rare Saturday session that often turned into a debate on gun control and arming teachers in the aftermath of last month’s Parkland school shootings.

Seven hours into the session, the Senate had only gone through roughly half of about 50 amendments to the 100-page bill. Democratic proposals to ban assault rifles and large-capacity magazines were rejected, as was a Democratic proposal to strip language from the bill that would create a program to arm teachers who have gone through law-enforcement training if school districts choose to take part in the so-called marshal plan.